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National Anthem (song)
|DS = |album = Born to Die |previous = "Diet Mountain Dew" |next = "Dark Paradise" }} "National Anthem" is a song written by Lana Del Rey, Justin Parker and The Nexus and produced by Emile Haynie and Jeff Bhasker in 2012. It served as the fifth single from Del Rey's first major-label studio album Born to Die. Writing and inspiration Lyrically the track deals with a hedonistic and melodramatic love story with Del Rey commanding her lover to pledge allegiance to her. It is similar in themes to the unreleased track "Children of the Bad Revolution", and is possibly about J. Composition "National Anthem" has been described as an alternative hip hop or trip hop track. Del Rey's vocals on the track employ a rapping-like technique, similar to that in the Born to Die tracks, "Off to the Races" and "Diet Mountain Dew". The song opens with a strings section including firework sound effects before introducing more hip hop inspired beats. It is in the key of C minor with a tempo of 85 BPM. Del Rey's vocal range spans from G3 to Bb4. The song focuses on the spoken hook of "Money is the anthem of success." The verses rhyme scheme focuses on rhymes and half rhymes of "anthem" including "ransom", "standin'" and "landed". Two demos of the song exist, an album demo which features a gospel choir in the chorus, and a demo by production duo, The Nexus - which is notably more tailored towards the pop genre. Cross references *"Take your body downtown" is a phrase Del Rey uses often in her work, such as "Video Games". *The phrase "party dress" is also in "St. Tropez", "American" and "Smarty" among many others. *Del Rey mention singing the national anthem in "Mermaid Motel". *The phrase "queen of Saigon" is also in "West Coast". Commercial release "National Anthem" was released as a digital EP in Ireland on June 6, 2012, and in the UK on June 8, 2012. On June 9, 2012 it was released oas a 7" picture disc vinyl in the UK. It charted at 37 on Billboard's US Rock Songs chart, 40 on Belgium's Ultratip Flanders chart, 92 on the United Kingdom's Official Chart Company chart and 152 on France's SNEP chart. Physical releases United Kingdom (3710053) (45RPM) Reception Critical reception to "National Anthem" was mixed, Bill Lamb of About.com complimented the track's "graceful arrangement" and "clever critique" of society - but critisized the "messy" lyrics. NME critisized the track's beat driven chorus, but went on to praise the lyrical quality and themes Del Rey discussed. Official versions *Album version 3:51 *The Nexus demo version 3:32 *Album demo version 3:22 *Video version with monologue and introduction 7:49 Remixes *Afterlife Remix 3:48 *bretonLABS Remix 4:04 *Fred Falke Remix Edit 3:46 *Tensnake Remix 3:43 Music video Homemade The original video was much in the style of Del Rey's other homemade clips such as "Lolita" and "On Our Way". It featured the album demo of the "National Anthem". It consisted of various film and TV clips such as shots of a Bugatti Veyron and of Elvis and Priscilla Presley's wedding. These shots are interspersed with Del Rey in, what appears to be, a hotel room in a blue dress dancing and lipsyncing to the track. In the same setting Del Rey also wears a dark blue jacket. There are occasional clips of Lana in a dark wig with large sunglasses on. It is thought to have been recorded in 2010 and leaked in 2012. Official The official music video was premiered . The video was directed by Anthony Mandler in May of the same year. It features previous musical collaborator and rapper A$AP Rocky as her love interest, rather than Bradley Soileau who featured on her previous two videos. The video begins with Del Rey portraying Marilyn Monroe singing "The Star-Spangled Banner/Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to Rocky, who portrays John F. Kennedy. After this introduction, Del Rey takes on the persona of Jacqueline Kennedy, and the video adopts a home-movie style depicting the Kennedy's life. The clip ends with a re-enactment of JFK's assassination as Del Rey reads a multi-layered narrative treatment exploring Jacqueline Kennedy's love for her husband. On the death scene, Mandler explained "What you're used to seeing with the Zapruder film, is this very kind of violent, destructive act; I didn't want to go anywhere near that. It was never about re-creating a death scene, it was always about the person sitting next to him." Mandler and Del Rey intended for the video to be about loss and destruction rather than accurately interpretating history. The treatment for the video was written by Del Rey with A$AP Rocky in mind. Del Rey described the video saying "definitely the most beautiful thing I've ever done." It was met with generally favourable reviews and was nominated at the 2012 UK Music Video Awards for Best Pop Video - International and Best Styling in a Video. Lyrics Album version ''The Nexus'' demo Album demo Credits Personnel *Vocal production — The Nexus *Backing vocals — James and Emilie Bauer-Mein & David Sneddon *Drums — Emile Haynie *Keyboards — Emile Haynie *Additional keybaords — Jeff Bhasker *Guitars — Jeff Bhasker *Strings arrangment and conducting — Larry Gold & Dan Heath *Strings assisment — Steve Tirpak *Mixing — Manny Marroquin *Assistant mixing — Erik Madrid & Chris Galland Category:Born to Die songs Category:Born to Die singles Category:Singles Category:Songs Category:Music videos Category:Born to Die videos Category:Videos Category:Paradise Tour songs